Hey everyone,

  Sending this one pict of the some hardcore rain we have been having, it has flooded a lot of streets here.

   Well, transfers are here!  I got transfered back out of my area and am now back with Elder Gearhart still in Vilnius. The crazy news is for the first time Lithuania has been made one zone. The four cities are now one "zone" and Elder Gearhart and I are the Zone Leaders. We are going to be making a "Lithuanian Tour" for exchanges this transfer by going to all the cities over the next several weeks. I am in Riga right now for a zone leader council and I will be back next week for 3 days for some new "Preach My Gospel" training. It should be way interesting. I am way excited. There is so much work to do and every day there is less time to do it. Just need to get out there and hit it hard every day. As always when I am in Riga, I don't have much time to write so I will talk to you more next week. I probably wont do much for my birthday if anything. I might go and have some delicious LIthuanian food at a resturant of something but we will be really busy. Probably nothing with the members like last time. Vilnius is a little different than Siauliai unfortunatly. I love it there though. Thank you everybody for everything. You all just gave me tonz of fire. I love you all.

 

 

Elder Cooke

Short of Words But Full of Thoughts

Me with my Russian tag that i use up in Riga. They don't give them out anymore but i got one when they did

Hey Fam,
I have been pondering many things lately. The work has kind of hit a slower pace right now which is tearing me up becasue I feel a stronger desire than ever to teach people the restored gospel of Christ. I have turned for peace to "Jesus the Christ" by James E. Talmage. His insights help explain so many things of Christ's ministry and him as our Brother, Lord, and Redeemer. I have had to turn to Christ as we have combated many opposers on the streets and within my own mind. It is interesting how you pointed out how hard it is let things go because that seems to be my problem these days. Things seem to come out of no where and it seems way to easy to let them affect me sometimes. One of the more humorous examples was when I was contacting with my companion and I rememberd the times I went over on my texting in high school and Mom and Dad took the bill. I feel terrible about that and countless other examples of when I was immature, irresponsible and inconsiderate of others. I am trying however to learn how to just let things go and look forward and upward. God doesn't look at us for who we were but who we are and who we can become. It is a truth that is hard to see all the time. I know that its true though and am trying to further inact it in my life. As for the work, we are working hard and putting a lot of miles on our shoes. Transfers are this week and not much will change because we only have one new missionary coming in and he is Russian speaking. So Lithuania should get through the trasfer easily.

Our jimmy rigged "air conditioning" because of the insain heat we have had. we are wet from humididty all day. IT consists of ice- chipped from our freezer wall in a bag in front of a small fan. it actually works...kinda

  

 

- a sweet old street in old town

 

So, I wanted to just throw in a couple of the stories that happened this week as it will give you a little idea of the funny things that happen here on a daily basis.

  We were asked to go pick up a part the Branch president of  Siauliai had ordered for the church's air conditioning this week so my companion and I went to buisness. As we walked in the manager told us they didn't have anything. I, assuming they were talking about our specific part, was about to ask when they would get it. Before I could talk he repeated, "No! We don't have anything for you!" He then put his hands up in an "X" and told us to leave. I now understood. People put the "X" up to us on the street to tell us to now talk to them. I simply stated to the man, "We are here for our friend _______" He went white as he realized we were here to pick up the ordered part he had on his table with a paid reciept. He apologized, I said we understood and we left. As we went to the bus stop a bus pulled up and a bum got kicked off. He came up to my companion and I and tried to throw his bag at us. He missed for 2 feet away by about 5 feet. He stumbled around looking for a light and then came up to me and started yelling at me. He had his hand in a fist which I was aware of but my encounters with bums has been so frequent that I was less than apathetic to the situation. He wound up and swung at me but instead of hitting me he just gave me a "fig" about half an inch from my face. A fig is made by putting your thumb in between your index and middle finger. It isn't quite like flipping somebody off but it is a watered down equvilent. I just looked at him and said, "Thank you" He stumbled away and then ran across traffic and passed out in the median. It is not uncommon to walk into a grocery store and have people mutter, "mormons" at us under thier breath. I have found solice in the comment, "they know not what they do." I don't see people waking up and saying, "Well today i think i am going to go persecute some diciples of Christ." People have no idea who we are and why we are here. Even if they "know" they don't understand. It's a good lesson of patience and long-suffering that I was and am in need of learning. As our area 70 stated in a zone conference, "We don't have the right to get offended." As representitives of Christ we need to represent him in all of our actions. Of course I wanted to get mad at that guy in the store but what would that have accomplished. Self vidication is no excuse for un-Christ-like behavior. Live your faith and love those around you. Things are a little hard for me right now. I wont try to act stronger than I am. But you have no need to worry. All that means is I have more to learn. 

 

 

Keep the prayers coming. They help a lot. Christ is with you and with me. I love you all so much.

 

Elder Cooke

 

 

 Me in Riga next to a pancake stand, or in Latvian (pan-kukas) which is my name in Lithunian

 

 

 

 -some sweet old cars driving down Gedimino the main street of Vilnius

Hey Fam!

Sounds like you all had fun over the 4th of July. This is actualy the 3rd one I have spent outside of the U.S. I had one while Stacy and I were in India. There is an odd feeling when you know everybody is celebrating something somewhere else but where you are is just another normal day. You kind of feel like you didn't get invited to a party that everybody is talking about the next day. However, the difference is I can say, "Sorry I wasn't at the party fellas, I was busy preaching truth in a foreign land." This is a win win win situation.

  In actuality things had kind of a sad spirit here. A former President of Lithuania died this last week so everybody had thier flags out so it still had a patriotic feel. However they were half mast and had a mourning black ribbon on them. I included some pictures.
   As far as the work goes things are going well. Elder Hilton and I are still trying hard to build up our pool of investigators. We have found some good people including a boy named Petras who just had a ton of good questions and was willing to learn. We are going to be meeting with him again today. About half-way through the week I just got really tired. After 4 weeks of 5+ straight hours of contacting days it gets hard to still have a passionate spirit about everything. Elder Hilton does a great job of keeping the faith. He helps me out a lot. After we had some good spiritual lessons and had some good discussions about Christ I was back to normal. It keeps me going knowing that I need to be an example to others and that I myself need to fufill my calling. It makes being obedient not an issue.
  In other news i once again came home from Riga to find my power had been turned off.  We had our landlord come fix it that night.
Let's hope my luck gets better when I go to Riga because I have to go again this Friday with Elder Gearhart for an exchange. Better get my Russian and Latvian "contacts" brushed up.
Love you guys.

Elder Cooke